Fort Custer missile site passes environmental test

A public information session about the environmental impact of a proposed missile defense site was held Tuesday in Battle Creek. A second session is scheduled Thursday in Richland.(Photo: Trace Christenson/The Enquirer)

A missile defense site at Fort Custer would require clearing hundreds of acres but would not affect any threatened or endangered species, a study has concluded.

The Missile Defense Agency is studying sites for ground-based non-nuclear interceptors, although the Department of Defense has not decided to construct a site and Congress has not authorized any money for new sites.

The MDA has similar sites in California and Alaska.

Several sites were considered but only three remain: Fort Custer, Fort Drum in New York and Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center in Ohio.

On Tuesday, officials held a public session at Lakeview Middle School to describe the possible project and especially preliminary results of a two-year environmental study. Another session is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Richland Community Center, 9400 E. CD Ave.

Two possible sites were considered at the Fort Custer Training Center. Ellis Gilliland, the environmental officer for the study, said his only surprise was not finding an endangered species.

"The habitat is here and the potential for them is here to be sure, but we didn't find them," Gilliland said. "I am surprised we didn't find anything. Normally we do."

Gilliland said the search was for Indiana and Northern long-eared bats, Mitchell's satyr butterfly, the copper belly water snake and the eastern massasauga rattlesnake.

He said the study included walking the property in every season and as an example, placing bat monitors in 45 locations to search for certain sound wave lengths that would suggest the bats are in the area.

At one of the two sites, 830 acres would be cleared of trees and leveled and at the other 805 acres. Gilliland said 20 acres of wetlands would be lost at one site and 78 acres at the other.

"The only significant impact will be on wetlands," he said. "But anywhere you go in the northeast you are going to impact wetlands."

The study also shows construction on either site would create noise and light and would eliminate potential habitat for wildlife and force animals and birds away.

The study also looked at traffic in the area both during construction and operation.

The government has said if the project is built, between 400 and 600 construction jobs would be created for five years and 650 to 850 employees would work at the site once the installation is operating. Estimates are that during construction an additional 2,000 indirect jobs would be added and the project would provide $193 million to the region.

An estimated 400 indirect jobs would be added one the site is operating and woud bring $29 million a year to the region.

But nothing has been decided, explained U.S. Army Col. Angela Holmes, the MDA program manager.

"The Department of Defense has not made a decision to deploy or construct any sites," Holmes said.

Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson